ZIP 46978 vs ZIP 46985

This side-by-side compares ZIP 46978 (Royal Center, IN) and ZIP 46985 (Star City, IN) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 46978 has a population of 2,059 at 13 people per square mile, while ZIP 46985 has 1,441 at 8 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 46978 reports a median household income of $78,750 against $59,063 in ZIP 46985, with per-capita income of $32,171 vs $28,598. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 19.0% in 46978 and 6.4% in 46985. Poverty rate reads 6.5% vs 8.6%, and unemployment 3.0% vs 3.9% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $130,000 in 46978 versus $170,200 in 46985, with median rent of $828 and $913 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 86.0% vs 67.5%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.